A Guide to Rugby & Sports Tours to France
Everyone knows how difficult it is to arrange a sports fixture in France due a few major factors which really limit the availability and access to clubs across the country. Thankfully at Energy Travel, over the years, we have created an extensive contacts list to successfuly help organise some amazing fixtures for our groups.
Over the last few years Energy Travel has successfully organised a variety of sports tours to France. It’s an obvious destination for a UK school yet not many choose to go there – particularly for rugby, France can be a minefield; age categories are not 100% in line with the UK, there must be a 72-hour gap between two fixtures and the local championship will always take priority. This last point is compounded by the fact that outside the elite leagues, the countries teams are divided into 16 divisions of 6 teams so there are never any odd numbered leagues and never any free clubs if it’s a championship weekend.
Despite this, Energy Travel has forged some great contacts with sports clubs across the country and organised some absolutely superb fixtures.
For rugby, Whilst pro-training and matches can be possible with Stade Francais and Racing 92, last year we also arranged fixtures versus Drancy, Orangis, Plaisir & Antony Metro. We also have great links with Arras Rugby, Beauvais, Dourdan, Evreux & Bethune Rugby and had teams visit the FFR national training centre at Marcoussis, about 45 minutes south of Paris.
In the south of France we have organised visits to Nice, Toulon, Marseille and Bordeaux, as well as fixtures with Tournefeuille, Rivesaltes, Stade Laurentin, Perigueux, CO Berre, Tarascon, OR Grasse & Orange Rugby as well as a fantastic match against a Nouvelle-Aquitaine Selection played at the home of Begles rugby in Bordeaux. Two teams visited Nice then headed over the border for matches against Genoa Rugby and Imperia Rugby (who provided some of the best hospitality we’ve ever witnessed including delicious home-made pasta). Italy is another matter though, with our own office in Italy, we have sports contacts across the country and so we can organise Italy-only tours as well as France-Italy combined tours.